Tag: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Rose Girls – Jennifer Chase

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Like a precious doll, the girl leans against the towering pine tree with her long bare legs stretched out and her hands folded neatly in her lap. Her head tilts towards the sky, but this innocent child will never feel the warm glow of morning sun again; her fragile little body is cold, her tender heart is still.

When Detective Katie Scott receives a plea from neighboring Coldwater Creek to help with a tragic murder, she doesn’t hesitate. Fifteen-year-old Ivy Miller’s naked body was found tied to a tree, a freshly inked pink rose tattoo on her arm. The word “MORE” carved into her back means sweet Ivy could be the first of many…

Katie’s heart aches for the young girl whose life ended before it had even begun. But she has her work cut out with the inexperienced police department fumbling the case at every turn. There hasn’t been a murder in this small town for as long as anyone can remember, but why will none of the locals cooperate? Katie’s only lead is a blurry photograph of Ivy’s long-missing mother found in Ivy’s bedroom. If she can find out where it was taken, Katie knows she’ll have the first clue in a mystery that has been haunting Coldwater Creek for years.

But Katie’s world crashes down when Ivy’s two best friends are found murdered in the same woods days later. Inked with the same pretty flower, the rose girls were keeping a deadly secret. Katie will never forgive herself for not making the connection in time. As mothers cling to their daughters, terrified to let them out of their sight, Katie’s search leads her to an abandoned building deep in the forest where the last photo of Ivy’s mother was taken. But will she survive long enough to stop more heart-shattering tragedies?

A totally nail-biting, keep-you-up-all-night crime thriller from a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author. Prepare to pick your jaw up from the floor at that final twist! Fans of Lisa Regan, Rachel Caine and Melinda Leigh will be absolutely gripped!

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Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning and best-selling crime fiction author, as well as a consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master’s degree in criminology & criminal justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent psychopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells.

In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling. She is an affiliate member of the International Association of Forensic Criminologists, and member of the International Thriller Writers.

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My thoughts: this was so good. A terrible murder of a teenage girl, a town full of secrets, Katie and Gav on the scene as their car breaks down, world’s best canine officer Cisco finding important clues, it’s all here.

Utilising her extensive knowledge of forensics, k9 training criminology and basically all round awesome skills, Jennifer Chase has once again created a totally gripping, terrifying and intriguing case for some of my favourite fictional cops to solve.

Small towns can be creepy, everyone knows everyone, secrets fester below the surface and outsiders get little response. Which makes solving the series of murders and disappearances in this small town harder than it needs to be. The few people willing to help will only go so far, for their own safety mostly, and warning off Katie makes her more determined to stay put.

Luckily she and Gav have excellent back up and skills their enemies don’t know about. Also Cisco. Who is my favourite character, he’s so good.

Cannot wait for book 10, this series just gets better and better.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Expectant – Vanda Symon

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The shocking murder of a heavily pregnant woman throws the New Zealand city of Dunedin into a tailspin, and the devastating crime feels uncomfortably close to home for Detective Sam Shephard as she counts down the days to her own maternity leave.

Confined to a desk job in the department, Sam must find the missing link between this brutal crime and a string of cases involving mothers and children in the past. As the pieces start to come together and the realisation dawns that the killer’s actions are escalating, drastic measures must be taken to prevent more tragedy.

For Sam, the case becomes personal, when it becomes increasingly clear that she is no longer safe, and the clock is ticking…

Vanda Symon lives in Dunedin, New Zealand. As well as being a crime writer, she has a PhD in science communication and is a researcher at the Centre for Pacific Health at the University of Otago. Overkill was shortlisted for the 2019 CWA John Creasey Debut Dagger Award and she is a four-time finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel for her critically acclaimed Sam Shephard series. The fourth in the series, Bound, was shortlisted for a Barry Award. Vanda produces and hosts Write On, a monthly radio show focusing on the world of books at Otago Access Radio. When she isn’t working or writing, Vanda can be found in the garden, or on the business end of a fencing foil.

My thoughts: Vanda Symon is back, Sam Shepherd is back, but not for long. Maternity leave calls for the detective, but she’s determined to solve this awful case first. Because babies always stick to the timetable.

A murdered woman, her unborn baby taken from her body, rocks the New Zealand Town of Dunedin – it’s so horrific most people can’t imagine it. The hunt for the baby is key, but so is finding the killer.

Sam, up against her terrible boss as usual, refuses to accept desk duty and sets about investigating who would want to take a newborn. A desperate woman? Stolen to order or something far sadder but also something that could have been avoided.

Without giving much away, I actually immediately knew why once a few key bits of info fell into place, and it is heartbreakingly sad. I used to work in a DNA blood typing lab and yeah, this needs to be something that’s done every time. DM on Twitter to discuss once you’ve read it if you like. Drawing on her scientific background, Symon has once again crafted a clever, intense, compelling read.

Hopefully Sam and baby will enjoy their time off, there’s a great nursery nearby and Sam will be back with more cases soon.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Death and the Conjuror – Tom Mead

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In 1930s London, celebrity psychiatrist Anselm Rees is discovered dead in his locked study, and there seems to be no way that a killer could have escaped unseen. There are no clues, no witnesses, and no evidence of the murder weapon. Stumped by the confounding scene, the Scotland Yard detective on the case calls on retired stage magician-turned-part-time sleuth Joseph Spector. For who better to make sense of the impossible than one who traffics in illusions?

Spector has a knack for explaining the inexplicable, but even he finds that there is more to this mystery than meets the eye. As he and the Inspector interview the colorful cast of suspects among the psychiatrist’s patients and household, they uncover no shortage of dark secrets—or motives for murder. When the investigation dovetails into that of an apparently-impossible theft, the detectives consider the possibility that the two transgressions are related. And when a second murder occurs, this time in an impenetrable elevator, they realize that the crime wave will become even more deadly unless they can catch the culprit soon. 

A tribute to the classic golden-age whodunnit, when crime fiction was a battle of wits between writer and reader, Death and the Conjuror joins its macabre atmosphere, period detail, and vividly-drawn characters with a meticulously-constructed fair play puzzle. Its baffling plot will enthrall readers of mystery icons such as Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr, modern masters like Anthony Horowitz and Elly Griffiths, or anyone who appreciates a good mystery.

Tom Mead is a UK crime fiction author specialising in locked-room mysteries. 

He is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association and the International Thriller Writers’ Organization. 

His debut novel is DEATH AND THE CONJUROR, featuring magician-detective Joseph Spector.

My thoughts: this was a lot of fun, harking back to my beloved Golden Age detective stories (honestly still some of the best crime fiction) with a magician turned “consulting detective” called Spector (excellent name) assisting the police investigation into the locked room mystery death of the psychiatrist Dr Rees (think Freud, complete with the large house in North London and dysfunctional family). The suspects are his three patients, his daughter and her fiancee.

As the pair delve into the lives of the Doctor and his patients, more mysteries appear, who was the man in the alley, what happened to the lift operator and who was the mysterious visitor the housekeeper couldn’t identify? No spoilers here, so grab a copy and follow the sleights of hand, the misdirection and try to guess where the case will go next!

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: The Marriage Season – Jane Dunn

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‘It’s not a fair world I’m afraid. Beauty or fortune carries the day. You have the beauty and I the fortune, so there’s every chance we’ll succeed’
In Regency England, marriage is everything. For young widow Sybella Lovatt, the time has come to find a suitable husband for her sister and ward Lucie. Male suitors are scarce near their Wiltshire estate, so the sisters resolve to head to London in time for The Season to begin.
Once ensconced at the Mayfair home of Lady Godley, Lucie’s godmother, the whirl of balls, parties and promenades can begin. But the job of finding a husband is fraught with rules and tradition.
Jostling for attention are the two lords – the charming and irresistible Freddie Lynwood and the preternaturally handsome Valentine Ravenell, their enigmatic neighbour from Shotten Hall, Mr Brabazon, and the dangerous libertine Lord Rockliffe, with whom the brooding Brabazon is locked in deadly rivalry.
Against the backdrop of glamorous Regency England, Sybella must settle Lucie’s future, protect her own reputation, and resist the disreputable rakes determined to seduce the beautiful widow. As the Season ends, will the sisters have found the rarest of things – a suitable marriage with a love story to match?
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Author Bio –
Jane Dunn is an historian and biographer and the author of seven acclaimed biographies, including Daphne du Maurier and her Sisters and the Sunday Times and NYT bestseller, Elizabeth & Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens. She comes to Boldwood with her first fiction outing – a trilogy of novels set in the Regency period, the first of which is to be published in January 2023. She lives in Berkshire with her husband, the linguist Nicholas Ostler.

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My thoughts: if, like me, you’re a fan of Regency romances and Bridgerton, then you’ll love this – trust me.

Sisters Bella and Lucie are headed to London, to stay with Lucie’s Godmother, “Lady God” as Bella’s hilarious son puts it, for The Season. Having lived out in the countryside, they’re both feeling a bit like fish out of water. Even with their neighbours Mr Brabazon and his cousin Lord Lynwood as acquaintances and increasingly friends.

Of course every man they meet has a reputation and most of them bad. Bella might be a widow but she’s a bit naive, not willing to just believe the things she’s told and besides, her husband was a paragon. A Dragoon captain he died in the Peninsula War (the endless fight against Napoleon’s global ambitions) and few could measure up.

And that brings us to my favourite character – Bella’s totally hilarious, very adorable little son, who loves horses more than almost anything else. He’s also the source of the funniest lines, having learnt most of his speech from the groom Gem and his late father’s batman George. Not exactly Society speech. But he’s brilliant. I want whole books featuring him and his many horse based interactions. He reveals the softer side of many of the dashing rakes the sisters meet, most of them are horse lovers too and can’t resist a small pudgy hand asking to have a ride.

This book was really enjoyable, lots of fun, and quite funny. So do yourself a favour and return to the Regency and the Ton.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Murder in Chianti – T.A. Williams

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Murder in broad daylight…
When millionaire magnate, Rex Hunter is found with his head bashed in on the eighth hole of his prestigious golf and country club in beautiful Chianti, it’s a clear case of murder. Hunter was rich and
successful and the envy of many, so retired DCI Dan Armstrong thinks the case will be a hole in one to solve….
A despised victim…
But as Dan and his trusty sidekick Oscar begin to dig deeper into Hunter’s lifestyle, they discover a man despised by many. A renown womaniser, ruthless boss and heartless family man, it seems no one is particularly sorry to see Hunter dead. And the list of possible suspects is endless…
A murderer covering their tracks.
Dan is determined to catch this clever killer, but it seems every new lead brings another dead end.
Will this be one case Dan and his canine companion won’t solve?
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T A Williams is the author of over twenty bestselling romances for HQ and Canelo
and is now turning his hand to cosy crime, set in his beloved Italy, for Boldwood. The
series will introduce us to retired DCI Armstrong and his labrador Oscar and the first book, entitled Murder in Tuscany, will be published in October 2022. Trevor lives in Devon with his Italian wife.

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My thoughts: I probably shouldn’t enjoy crime fiction as much as I do, but when they’re this good, it’s a bit tricky not to!

A dead man on the golf course, head staved in with a club. Digging into the case Dan discovers he’s pretty awful and there’s plenty of suspects. Including his own children.

Oliver, an excellent canine detective, finds several clues, everyone eats and drinks delicious local produce. I start looking up flights to Florence. Murders not withstanding, it is a beautiful place (I’ve been, years ago).

This series is lots of fun, the characters are entertaining and I love the relationship between Dan and the local police – his years of knowledge and experience plus interpreter skills are a bonus. And he is a great protagonist, writing his novels but also solving crimes, and not always giving Oliver enough walks!

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Nothing Can Hurt You Now – Simone Campos, translated by Rahul Bery

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Lucinda has lived her whole life in the shadow of her glamorous and outgoing high-end model sister Viviana. But when Viviana suddenly disappears on a trip to São Paulo, Lucinda drops everything to track her down.

Met with indifference from the police, Lucinda joins forces with Viviana’s girlfriend Graziane to launch her own investigation. When she discovers that her sister had a thriving career as a sex worker, the list of possible suspects widens.

Then a cryptic text suggests that Viviana is still alive but being held hostage. With the minutes ticking by, Lucinda and Graziane must track down the men from Viviana’s past to discover who might want to do her harm.

A furiously contemporary and vibrant thriller that crackles with danger.

My thoughts: the relationships between the three women at the heart of this gripping thriller are vital to the plot. Lucinda’s decision to hunt down and rescue her sister from whatever danger she’s in, even after discovering the secrets Viviana has been keeping (sex work, a girlfriend, visiting their estranged dad) and reading the book Viviana is writing, is because of the love she has for her glamorous sister, but also the complicated childhood they shared. Graziane loves Viviana, and knows her secrets already so their connection is more straightforward.

Putting their own lives in possible danger, interviewing exes, looking into Viviana’s most recent movements, and then heading out to a remote place, where she’s most likely being held, with no real idea of the risks, is incredibly brave.

Viviana’s chapters are full of unexpected violence, terror and her desperate attempts to stay alive, escape and stop an increasingly fragile situation from falling apart. Caught in a complex web between two men, Davi and Cesar, who have clearly got a lot of their own issues, she’s afraid for good reason.

The flashbacks to how Lucinda and Viviana grew up, filling in gaps to who they are now, helps the reader understand their relationship, and as Lucinda confronts the fact that she actually doesn’t really know her sister as well as she once thought, all three women are heading for a dangerous confrontation on a remote ranch.

A short but compelling story of the dangers that lurk beneath the exterior and of the relationships that most connect us. Viviana never loses hope her sister and girlfriend will help her, even as the farmhouse becomes more terrifying.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: One Day With You – Shari Low

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One day, five lives, but whose hearts will be broken by nightfall?
It started like any other day in the picturesque village of Weirbridge.
Tress Walker waved her perfect husband Max off to work, with no idea that she was about to go into labour with their first child. And completely unaware that when she tried to track Max down, he wouldn’t be where he was supposed to be.
At the same time, Max’s best friend Noah Clark said goodbye to his wife, Anya, blissfully oblivious that he would soon discover the woman he adored had been lying to him for years.
And living alongside the two couples, their recently widowed friend, Nancy Jenkins, is getting ready to meet Eddie, her first true love at a school reunion. Will Nancy have the chance to rekindle an old flame, or will she choose to stay by Tress’s side when she needs her most?
One Day with You – two fateful goodbyes, two unexpected hellos, and 24 hours that change everything.
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Shari Low is the #1 bestselling author of over 30 novels, including My One Month Marriage and One Summer Sunrise and a collection of parenthood memories called Because Mummy Said So. She lives near Glasgow.

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My thoughts: Shari Low knows how to play on your emotions – this book made me laugh out loud and then want to sob, so keep some tissues handy.

On an ordinary day several lives will be changed forever. Births, deaths, old flames and new loves, truths revealed and lies told. The people at the centre of this story will go through it all in 24 hours.

Tress is pregnant with her first child, but not due for a couple of weeks, so waves husband Max off on a business trip. A trip his best friend Noah’s wife, Anya, is also on, she and Max work together.

Next door neighbour Nancy is getting all dressed up for a high school reunion that will bring her together with old boyfriend Eddie. She’d love pal Val (a familiar face if you know Low’s other books) to join her but husband Don has dementia and she worries about leaving him at home.

Things aren’t going to go to plan and a lot will happen to everyone before the end of the story and both characters and reader will be feeling differently by the end.

Another excellent, funny, sweet, clever and moving read from expert storyteller Shari Low.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: A Village Fete Murder – Katie Gayle

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Julia Bird can’t wait to attend the annual village party at the local stately home, with its tea tents, cake stalls, and… dead body in the maze?

The annual village celebration at Berrywick House is underway, complete with over-decorated cake stalls, fiercely contested flower competitions, and even a maze for the disappointed losers to hide in. Julia Bird, now a well-known – even notorious – member of the community, with her trusty Labrador Jake, has thrown herself headlong into the festivities. But her reputation for adding drama to any event stands up yet again when she discovers a dead body in the maze…

It seems Ursula Benjamin, village know-it-all and prickly baking competition participant, has been strangled – and the killer has to be someone at the fete. As Julia grapples with finding yet another murder in Berrywick, she starts to wonder, could one of the competitive cake-bakers have taken the contest to deadly new heights? Or is there something darker in Ursula’s life that led to her untimely demise?

Embroiled once again in a murder enquiry, Julia isn’t about to leave the investigation to the police. Like it or not, she’s involved, and she’s going to help them solve the mystery. But when there’s another death, and it’s clear the murders aren’t isolated incidents, the stakes become even higher. Can Julia figure out the identity of the killer, and prevent any further dastardly deeds, before the wholesome spirit of the village is ruined forever?

If you like utterly gripping English mysteries, then you’ll love A Village Fete Murder. Perfect for fans of M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin and Betty Rowlands.

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Katie Gayle is the writing partnership of best-selling South African writers, Kate Sidley and Gail Schimmel. Kate and Gail have, between them, written over ten books of various genres, but with Katie Gayle, they both make their debut in the cozy mystery genre. Both Gail and Kate live in Johannesburg, with husbands, children, dogs and cats. Unlike their sleuth Epiphany Bloom, neither of them have ever stolen a cat from the vet.

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My thoughts: this series is a lot of fun, even with all the dead bodies. There’s a lot of food so have a snack handy, I was craving cake by the end!

Julia, Sean and a certain naughty chocolate lab (my grandparents had one and he was such a lovely dog) are at the village fete, when they find the body of local school teacher Ursula Benjamin in the maze.

Of course, Julia can’t resist “helping” out the local detectives, much to the chagrin of local detective Hayley, who keeps telling Julia to stop digging! Good thing they’re friends. After a second body linked to the first, it seems to all centre on the school where both victims worked. Will Julia’s social worker background and understanding of people help find the killer?

This was clever and entertaining as always, the writing team that comprise Katie Gayle are witty and insightful, so many of the motivations are about human nature – these ladies have the insights. Can’t wait for book 4!

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: A Notable Omission – Isabella Muir

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A 1970s debate on equality is overshadowed by a deadly secret…
Spring 1970. Sussex University is hosting a debate about equality for women. But when one of the debating group goes missing, attention turns away from social injustice to something more sinister.
It seems every one of the group has something to hide, and when a second tragedy occurs, two of the delegates – amateur sleuth Janie Juke, and reporter Libby Frobisher – are prepared to make
themselves unpopular to flush out the truth. Who is lying and why?
Alongside the police investigation, Janie and Libby are determined to prise answers from the tight-lipped group, as they find themselves in a race against time to stop another victim being targeted.
In A Notable Omission we meet Janie at the start of a new decade. When we left Janie at the end of The Invisible Case she was enjoying her new found skills and success as an amateur sleuth. Here
we meet her a few months later, stealing a few days away from being a wife and mother, attending a local conference on women’s liberation to do some soul-searching…

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Isabella is never happier than when she is immersing herself in the sights, sounds and experiences of family life in southern England in past decades – specifically those years from the Second World War
through to the early 1970s. Researching all aspects of life back then has formed the perfect launch pad for her works of fiction. It was during two happy years working on and completing her MA in Professional Writing when Isabella rekindled her love of writing fiction and since then she has gone on to publish seven novels, six novellas and two short story collections.
This latest novel, A Notable Omission, is the fourth book in her successful Sussex Crime Mystery series, featuring young librarian and amateur sleuth, Janie Juke. The early books in the series are set
in the late 1960s in the fictional seaside town of Tamarisk Bay, where we meet Janie, who looks after the mobile library. She is an avid lover of Agatha Christie stories – in particular Hercule Poirot. Janie
uses all she has learned from the Queen of Crime to help solve crimes and mysteries. This latest novel in the series is set along the south coast in Brighton in early 1970, a time when young people were finding their voice and using it to rail against social injustice.
As well as four novels, there are six novellas in the series, set during the Second World War, exploring some of the back story to the Tamarisk Bay characters.
Isabella’s love of Italy shines through all her work and, as she is half-Italian, she has enjoyed bringing all her crime novels to an Italian audience with Italian translations, which are very well received.
Isabella has also written a second series of Sussex Crimes, set in the sixties, featuring retired Italian detective, Giuseppe Bianchi, who is escaping from tragedy in Rome, only to arrive in the quiet seaside town of Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, to come face-to-face with it once more. Isabella’s standalone novel, The Forgotten Children, deals with the emotive subject of the child migrants who were sent to Australia – again focusing on family life in the 1960s, when the child migrant policy was still in force.
Find out more about Isabella and her books by visiting her website.

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My thoughts: having been raised by a feminist (hi mum!) who was a young woman in the 70s, and probably aware of similar events as the one Janie and Libby attended, gave me some idea of what it would be like. Some of the rights we take for granted were still being hashed out at this time and the women (and men) who campaigned for them are to be commended.

However, this particular group doesn’t seem that focused on women’s rights but on their own complicated connections – most of the group have known each other since school and not always been exactly friends. It’s all a bit messy and after one member disappears, and another has a potentially fatal accident, Janie and Libby start asking questions. The answers lie somewhere in the group’s past, but who’s telling the truth and who has plenty to hide?

A clever and engaging read, Janie and Libby are an interesting pairing, the married mother, happy in her library job, worrying about her family, and the no strings attached journalist, intent on building her career and seemingly happy to be single. Their respective skills and insights into human nature make them a good crime solving team and friends too.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Tiding – Siân Collins

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December 1962. EleanorO’Dowd, a middle-aged piano teacher, is found stabbed and bludgeoned to death. As the Great Freeze of 1963 takes hold, local vicar’s daughter Daphne Morgan finds herself forced to navigate the confusing currents of the adult world, where she must face up to her own crimes and what she knows about the murder. A novel about memory and the power of the imagination…

SiânCollins was born in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. An Edinburgh graduate, she taught Anglo Saxon and Medieval Literature in South Africa, worked as an assistant editor on The Lancet, and ran English and Drama departments in several well-known London secondary schools. She returned to Carmarthenshire to teach, write, and relish life in the beautiful Tywi Valley. Her debut novel, Unleaving, was published in 2019.

My thoughts: seen through the eyes of a child, following the murder of her much disliked piano teacher, this charts the life of a small Welsh town, reeling from the tragedy. The police are convinced a local man – deaf mute Johnny – is their perpetrator, and his inability to communicate makes it all too easy to point the finger at him. But Daphne knows that’s not true, she saw something, or did she?

Meanwhile she and her school friends have worries of their own, have they been cursed? Are they responsible for the village’s recent troubles?

Told with a kind tone and full of the misunderstandings and tiny concerns of children, as well as the growing awareness of the unfairness of life, this is a gentle but moving story of a place and its people.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.